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UNITED j STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. CLAY, OF ELIZABETH, KENTUCKY.

GATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 603,258, dated May 3,1898.- Application filed \Tune 17, 1895. Renewed October 28, 1897- 7Serial No- 656,'706- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. CLAY, a

' citizen of the United States, residing at Elizagates of that classknown in the art as handoperated swinging gates, in which class ofdevices the gate is swung to its open or closed position by a personseated in a vehicle or riding on horseback, suitable pull-bars orhandles being arranged on both sides of the gate for convenience of therider to open the gate and to close the same after having passed throughthe gate-opening.

The invention is more particularly designed as an improvement on thegate shown in my prior patent, No. 426,243, dated .April 22, 1890; andthe object of the present improvements is to improve the means forswinging the gate, so as to make the gate open and closemore easily andto latch itself with certainty when it arrives opposite to the latchpostor either of the road-posts.

My invention relates to the appliances for hanging the gate, which areso constructed and are so combined with the walking-beam that when thegate is to be opened or closed it will be tilted in a vertical directionto cause the latch to be released from the keeper on the latch or theroad post, and when the gate is being turned'or swung on its pivots thegate is kept off its center or so that the rear stile of the gate isslightly out of plumb, whereby'tlie gate is caused to turn easily and toclose and latch itself with certainty.

To enable others to understand my invention, I have illustrated thepreferred embodiment thereof in the accompanying drawings, forming apart of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a perspective View ofmy improved gate, showing the latter in its closed position. Fig. 2 isan elevatipn with the gate opened and showingth'eposition of the rearstile of the gate with relation to the hingepost. Fig. 3 is a detailperspective view of the link-piece and angular bolts forming the tophinge of the gate. Fig. 5 is an enlarged inverted or bottom plan view ofthe linkpiece and the bolts forming the upper hinge, the parts of whichare shown detached by Fig. 3. Fig. 4 is a detail View of thewalking-beam detached from the hinge post. Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 aredetail views of parts of the walking-beam. Fig. 10 is a detail view ofone of the keepers for use on the roadposts.

Like letters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the figuresof the drawings, referring to which A designates the gate; B, the tallhingepost. 0 is the latch-post, and D D are the road-posts. As is usual,the hinge and latch posts are set in line with each other and with afence, while the road-posts 'D D are in line with each other and onopposite sides of the tall hinge-post B, at suitable distances from thelatter, for the gate A to swing up to the road-posts, so that the latchon the gate will engage with the keepers on the road-posts.

The gate which I prefer to use consists of the hinge-stile a, thelatch-stile a, three rails a a series of vertical Wires a and thelongitudinal wires 0%, which are twisted between the vertical wires andsecured to the hinge and latch stiles'a a, respectively, of the gate,all said parts being rigidly fastened together to produce a gate whichis light, durable, and,

substantial in construction.

The gate is hung to the hinge -'post A by two hinges, the bottom hingebeing shown at E and the top hinge at F in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

The bottom hinge E consists of a short bolt 6 and a longer eyebolt e.The short bolt eis fastened in the post A and is formed with an annularbend to provide the vertical trunnion el /The long bolt 6 of said hingeis straight, has an eye e at one end, a shoulder e to abut against therear stile a of the gate, and a threaded end to receive a nut that bearsagainst the front face of the rear gate-stile a. The parts 6 e of thelower hinge are rigidly fastened to the hinge-post and rear gate-stilea, respectively, and the eye of the long bolt e is fitted or slippedover the short trunnion of the short bolt 6.

The upper hinge F consists of the short angular bolts f f and thelink-piece g, the latter fitted to the pintles on the angular bolts tooperate in a peculiar way. The bolt f is fastened to the post A, and theother bolt, f, is fastened to the rear stile a of the gate, the pintleof the bolt f having a transverse opening near its upper end to receivethe pin or key f, that serves to keep the link-piece g from slipping offthe pintle of the bolt f. The link-piece g is of cast metal, in a singlepiece, and at one end the link-piece has an eye 9, while another openingg is provided near the other end of the link-piece. The link-piece g isfurther provided with a boss h, which is east on the lower side of thelink between the openings 9 g therein, and this boss is curved orprovided with a curved rear face to provide the concavity h,whichispresented to the faeef of the hinge-bolt f. The curve of the face orconcavity h is eccentric to the vertical axis of the pintle on thehingebolt f, and the end face f of the hinge-bolt itself is eccentric tothe axis of the vertical pintle on the hinge-bolt, as shown by Fig. 3.The concaved boss his adapted to ride or bear against the end face f 3when the gate is swung either to the right or left of the latch-post.\Vhen the gate is swung out of line with the posts A O, the link 9 turnsor swings with the gate, and it assumes a position at an angle to or aposition oblique to the length of the fixed hinge-boltf, and in thisposition of the gate and link-piece one or the other of the end portionsof the boss orseat h rides against the end face f of the hinge-bolt f,thus limiting the swing of said link. It will thus be seen that theeccentric boss on the link-piece serves to hold the gate when itisswinging to an open position or when it is fully open either to theright or left from being pulled or from falling back into a positionwhere its rear stile is plumb or in a perpendicular position,wherebyafter the gate is tilted to clear its latch from the keeper on the post0 the gate is held out of plumb and is caused to swing mainly by gravitytoward the roadposts.

The link and bolts f f allow the gate to have a limited tilting movementwhen the walking-beam is pulled in either direction, so that the latch Hon the free end of the gate may be lifted out of engagement with thekeeper on the latch-post or on either of the road-posts.

The link 9 and the hinge-bolt f of the upper hinge are equal in lengthto the long straight bolt (2 of the lower hinge, so that when the gateis closed against the latch-post it will hang in a level position.

The latch II is a spring-metal strip fastened at its upper end to thefront stile a and having an arm 7L at its lower end, which arm is fittedloosely in a slot or opening in the front gate-stile. The latch-post Ohas a double inclined keeper 0, with a central recess to receive thespring-latch. The road-posts D D are each equipped with a keeper (Z,which is wrought 'or otherwise produced from a single piece of metal,and each keeper (Z has a recess (1, an inclined face (1, and anoutwardly-extending stop or abutment d. The springlatch II on the gateis adapted when the gate is swung open into line with the road-post toride against the inclined face (1 of the keeper (Z and to spring intothe recess (1 of said keeper to hold the gate in its opened position,and the abutment of said keeper d is arranged in the path of the frontstile of the gate,whereby the gate-stile is adapted to strike againstthe abutment d when the gate is swung open to limit the opening movementof the gate and to prevent it from being blown in high winds beyond theroad-post.

I designates the walking-beam, which is built up from the longitudinalbars 1' 7c, the metallic front center piece Z, the back center piece m,and the brace-plates n o 17, all united securely together. The frontcenter piece 7, is preferably cast in a single piece of metal, with theoverhanging top flange Z and with the flange Z a short distance from itslower edge. The longitudinal top bars it are fitted against the centerplate beneath the overhanging flange Z, while the bottom bars 7' j arefitted against the lower part of the center plate, beneath the flange Zthereof. These bars are firmly bolted to the center plate Z, and theyare protected from the weather by said plate and its flanges. These barsi i and j j extend a suitable distance from the center plate and beyondthe road-posts D D, and the bars are inclined or converged toward eachother, so that the bars j may be fastened to the bars 1', as shown. Thebars 1' t'jj are braced by the middle bars 7; 7t; but these bars 70 donot lie in the same vertical plane as the bars 1? t'jj, except at theouter ends, where the bars 70 are fastened to the bars t'j through themedium of the plates 1) 1). The bars ij and center plate Z are on thefront side of the hinge-post; but the bars 70 70 are inclined away fromthe bars 2' so as to lie on the opposite or rear) side of the hinge-postA, and said laterally-inclined bars 70 are fastened to the ends of theback center plate on by belts or equivalent fastenings. It will be notedthat the plate Z lies on one side of the hingepost, while the plate onis fitted against the other side of the hinge-post, and these plates areconnected to the post A by a headed through-bolt J, having a nut on itsthreaded end, said bolt serving as the fulcrum for the walking-beam I.The front bars M are braced at points between the plates Z 1) by theplates n n, and the bars k 7; are braced by the angular plates 0 o, theplates at 0 being bolted to the bars 7s, as shown. The plates at dependbelow the bars j j of the walking-beam and are provided with eyes a,into which eyes a are fitted the hooks g on the plates Q, which arefastened to the bars or rods B. These bars or rods R R are inclinedtoward the rear stile a of the gate, and their lower ends are bolted tothe inclined ends of a swivel-plate S. A pivot-strap T is fitted aroundthe front side of the rear or hinge stile a of the gate.

as follows: The gate hangs level when it is closed and latched againstthe post 0. To open the gate, the operator pulls down one of the handlesU, thus rocking the walkingbeam I and pushing on one of the rods or barsR, which in turn presses the swivel-plate against the pivot 25 and tiltsthe gate sufficiently for the spring-latch thereof to clear the keeper 0on the post 0. A continued pull by the operator on the handle U causesthe gate to .swing away from the operator, and as the gate swings openthe seat It on the link 9 rides against the hinge-bolt f, thus keepingthe gate from falling back past the vertical center through the twohinges and causing the back gate-stile a to assume a position out ofplumb when the gate is swung to its fully-opened position, as shown byFig. 2. As the gate swings into line with the roadpost D or D the latchH strikes the keeper and springs into the recess d therein, and thefront gate-stile a strikes theabutment d, the gate being held in itsopened position by the latch H. The operator can now pass through thegate, and to close it he pulls down on the other handle U, therebytilting the gate to cause its latch to clear the keeper d on theroad-post and to swing back into line with the latch-post C,with thekeeper of which the spring-latch H is caused to engage.

I am aware that changes in the form and proportion of parts and in thedetails of construction of the devices herein shown and described can bemade by a skilled mechanic without departing from the spirit orsacrificing the advantages of my invention, and I therefore reserve theright to make such modifications and alterations as fairly fall withinthe scope of my invention.

Havingthus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is I V g 1. The combination with ahinge-post, a gate, and a lower hinge, of an upper hinge having twopintle-hooks, connected by a perforated link, which is provided with aboss or seat between its perforations, substantially as and for thepurposes described.

2. The combination with a hinge-post, a gate, and a lower hinge, of theupper hinge consisting of a bolt attached to the gate, another boltattached to the hinge-post and provided with an eccentric face and witha vertical pintle situated in a vertical plane to one side of the planeof the pintle of the lower hinge, and a link having an eccentric boss orseat arranged to ride against the eccentric face of the hinge-bolt, asand for the purposes described.

3. A walking-beam for gates comprising the socketed central plate, theconverging bars '5 j attached at their inner ends to the central plateand fastened together at their outer ends, the brace-plates n, 0,attached to said bars at points'between their ends, the back plate marranged opposite to the central plate, and the brace-bars is inclinedlaterally to the bars 71, j, and fastened to the plate m, thebrace-plates n, 0, and to the barsc', j substantially. as described.

In testimony whereof I afiixmy signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM H. CLAY.

Witnesses:

F. P. CLAY, Sr., F. P. CLAY, Jr.

